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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



great exception to this evenness of the upland plateau is notice- 

 able to the south where the high peaks of the Catskills rise 

 abruptly above the general level. 1 A prolonged inspection of 

 the country from such a vantage point, impresses the beholder 

 with the fact that it is the plateau or even upland which is 

 the dominant topographic feature of the region, and that the 

 hills seen from the low ground, are merely the carved edges of 

 this plateau where it has been deeply incised by the three prin- 

 cipal streams of the region, the Schoharie kill, the Cobleskill and 

 the Fox kill. The deeply sunken valleys of these streams are, 

 next to the plateau, the most prominent topographic element of 

 the landscape, and one might not inaptly emphasize this fact be- 

 speaking of the region as a valley country rather than a hill 

 country. 



In the vicinity of Middleburg and northward the average 

 altitude to which the hills rise is 2100 feet, though westward in 

 Petersburg mountain the elevation is as high as 2300 feet. 

 Northward from Middleburg the level falls to about 2000 feet 

 and still farther north to 1900, and then 1800 feet. The hills 

 immediately bordering the larger valleys rise to less than the 

 average hight as might be expected. Thus West mountain is 

 1200 feet, Dann's mountain nearly 1400 feet and Sunset hill 

 1000 feet. Northward there is a gradual descent of the upland 

 region, the average upland elevation being little over 1000 feet 

 in the Mohawk region. 



^ne of the best localities for observing the features here described is 

 on the summit of Moheganter hill, which rises to the south of Middleburg. 

 apparently hemming in the valley on the south as seen from Schoharie. 

 About three miles southwest of Middleburg, on the south side of the river, 

 a small stream has cut the northwestern face of Moheganter hill, and here 

 at the schoolhouse of district no. 11 a road branches off from the main 

 Schoharie valley road and climbs the hill. Behind the house of Mr John 

 Vroman, the second inhabited bouse on the road, is a bare knoll which 

 rises above 1900 feel A.T. From the summit of this knoll a splendid view 

 of the even upland, the Catskills and the deep Schoharie valley may be 

 obtained. Other good views are found farther along on the road. Interest- 

 ing outcrops of Hamilton, Sherburne and Oneonta strata are found along 

 this highway. 



